21 October 2002 (London, England) – Smit Salvage has completed the removal of the hazardous cargo from the Jolly Rubino containership which ran aground on the Kwa-Zulu Natal coast in South Africa last month, CNI was informed on Monday. A spokeswoman for the Dutch group said the cargo has been flown to a high security temporary holding area, from where it will be moved to a Waste-Tech facility outside Richards Bay for inspection and identification.

The Jolly Rubino's crew abandoned ship on 10 September after failing to extinguish a fire in the engine room. The Italian-flagged deadweight roll-on, roll-off vessel, which is owned by Italy's Ignazio Messina, was en route from Durban in South Africa to Mombasa in Kenya. The Smit spokeswoman said the fire onboard the 31 262 tonne deadweight vessel was "pretty much out". She noted that most of the hazardous cargo, which included methanol, ethyl acetate, ethanol, methyl iso butyl ketone (MIBK), thinsol, acetone and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), was destroyed in the fire and therefore it is doubtful that any will reach its intended destination. The salvage team is continuing to remove bunker fuel from the vessel, and the authorities are finalising plans for the removal of the wreck.